Trials for vaccine delivery by drones begin today in Telangana

Delhi based drone delivery tech firm Skye Air Mobility has tied up with Blue Dart to initiate a three-phase trial for the Telangana government’s “Medicine from the sky” project.

Saurabh Sinha
  • Updated On Sep 9, 2021 at 08:13 AM IST
Read by: 100 Industry Professionals
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NEW DELHI: Telangana will from Thursday start a trial run for delivering vaccines by drones, eventually paving the way for taking this route to healthcare centres in remote parts of the country. Delhi based drone delivery tech firm Skye Air Mobility has tied up with Blue Dart to initiate a three-phase trial for the Telangana government’s “Medicine from the sky” project.

To begin with, each drone will carry 175 vaccines and fly within line of sight and then go beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS). Being a trial run, the vaccines being delivered initially will not be the precious Covid jabs but others.
On Thursday, boxes weighing 2-3kg will take off from Vikarabad District Hospital for 500-metre-away primary healthcare centres, flying to an altitude of up to 400ft. “This is the first trial to deliver jabs by drones and different corridors have been identified for the purpose. On Thursday, we will start with within line of sight that will cover a distance of up to 1km. Later, when we go BVLOS in this trial, we will deliver up to 10km within 20-25 minutes,” Skye Air Mobility co-founder Swapnik Jakkampuddi said.
  • Published On Sep 9, 2021 at 08:07 AM IST
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